The Bank of England raised its key rate to 4.25%
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Today, March 23, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England voted for raising the key lending rate by 0.25 percentage points to 4.25%. This is the highest level since October 2008, when the rate was 4.5%. The Bank of England last raised rates in early February to 4%.
The rate hike comes amid accelerating inflation — in February, consumer prices grew up by 10.4% with an increase of 10.1% in January. Analysts had expected inflation to slow down in February. “There was hope that inflation would recede from double digits, but a surge upwards … is likely to refocus on understanding the need to cool demand and contain a sharp rise in prices,” said Suzanne Streeter, head of finance and markets at brokerage Hargreaves Lansdown.
On Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve also raised the key rate by 0.25 percentage points, to the level of 4.75–5%. Today, the Swiss National Bank announced a rate hike by 0.5 percentage points to 1.5%.
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